Job Discussion Forums

[Hoser]

Just wondering if anybody had any suggestions. It doesn't look like we've had one of these topics in a while and my search-fu failed me. I looked for HIT Travel and was surprised to see that they have gone bankrupt! I was going to buy my last ticket home with him but wasn't really impressed by the guy on the phone. I'm glad I didn't!

So where now is the new "go to" place to get your cheap tickets home? I know there's still always No1 Travel although I'm not so impressed with their prices although I guess that's the reality these days. I remember when I went home in February of 2005 for my first time and my ticket cost a mere 29,000 to Toronto via Air Canada and a stop in Vancouver! It was more than that with taxes of course but now I see that February is 45,000 yen instead of 29,000.

So any suggestions? I'm not going anywhere for a while, just planning ahead. Last time I called in in...April to get a ticket for July. They give me a really decent price and then told me that there were no more tickets at that price left because they had been all sold out. I always get the feeling that those guys are trying to screw me >.<

[Hoser]

In a follow up to my first post, I found this article which contains some good advice about buying airline tickets in general.

One thing I was wondering, could I use something like Travelocity or Expedia.ca to buy my tickets even though I would be flying from Japan to Canada rather than the other way around?

[Hoser]

Base Fare (1 adult) = CAD 544.00
Taxes and Fees = CAD 605.28
Total Price = CAD 1149.28

Well I checked with Travelocity and that is ok I guess. It's certainly less than what I paid last year! (150,000 yen maybe?)

God only in the airline business is the total for taxes actually HIGHER than the price of the ticket itself.

[saloc]

I usually use Expedia.co.uk for flights from anywhere to anywhere and have never had any problems. I don't think it matters where you are booking from. You might find cheaper prices at No 1 etc but I've always been quite happy with the service and the cost at Expedia.

[gaijinalways]

You might want to check HIS (even if you don't have a Japanese spouse ) as they often offer group prices on limited tickets that are offered at different points in time depending on when you plan to fly. Sometimes you can purchase them as much as 4 months in advance, while other times you can get discounted tickets a mere 2-3 weeks before departure. We use them a lot with the related Orico card which allows for you to get points when used in conjunction with HIS. Our last trip to Bali was less than half price because we cashed in our points.

Hoser posted

[JL]

"...Should be going lower, especially if you fly later in the year"

That's what I have heard, as well. These surcharges for jet fuel are very recent. Jet fuel prices are, naturally, very closely linked to oil prices. Oil fell today to $42.63 in the U.S. On Monday, I read that jet fuel is now below $70 a barrel, compared with $175 last summer. Many airlines are already slashing, or getting ready to eliminate their surcharges. Air travel is down too, due to the economy, though I don't know the specifics on trans-Pacific travel. In any event, though it usually does pay to book in advance, I definitely would wait until surcharges start falling away, in this case.

[Hoser]

Thanks for the advice guys. That would make sense I think. Gaijin what do you mean about the comment regarding Japanese spouses? Do you mean to say that it's a Japanese only website? Or that they give better deals to Japanese people? Just curious.

[JL]

"Or that they give better deals to Japanese people?"
Yep! That's what that means. That scandal first broke... (I'm now editing this, because I'm not sure anymore of the timeline). Don't know what's happened since. But cross-check H.I.S.'s English site rates with their J-site, to be sure. Nice, huh?

[johanne]

For flights to Canada I've actually found that booking on Air Canada's website directly to be the cheapest option. I bought 3 tickets for this last Christmas for $2600 total, including all the taxes, on-line directly from them. I never saw anything cheaper anywhere else. Also, when you book directly with Air Canada, the fuel surcharge doesn't change later on, so there is none of this give me another 6,000 yen for an increased surcharge, when you go to pick up the tickets, as happened to me with HIS.

[Brooks]

I always ask my Japanese wife to take care of flights from Japan. She thinks I am being lazy but it is just to save money.
She looks at several websites and gets the best deal. Some travel agents in Osaka undercut those in Tokyo.

[gaijinalways]

Hoser posted

[Apsara]

If you can read some Japanese or get someone to help you, www.tour.ne.jp is a database of hundreds of travel agencies in Japan, many of them small discount agencies, and it will bring up all the cheapest fares currently being offered for your destination.

[JL]

Aspara,
I checked the website you provided. The fares I found from Tokyo to my own city, Las Vegas, were outrageously cheap. Starting at 13,000 yen, roundtrip! Do you have any experience using this database? I'm wondering how to discern the "bait-and-switch" come-ons from the legitimate ones. I'm not doubting that the latter are listed. But I'd like to avoid the former when I dig in there. Thanks in advance.

(PS: I realize that "yobiyose" tickets (tickets for travel originating outside of country where tkt. is issued), are not offered by many an agency. But if not for the first leg into Japan, then for future travel, I'd like to know.)

[Apsara]

JL, I have booked with agencies from that site about 4 times now for various destinations. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've always been given the rate that was on the site, so absolutely no complaints so far, although once or twice I have enquired about a flight using that site and have got no answer from the agency.

[JL]

Thanks, Aspara. Well that's no less then great news. Because even if I'm going to have to plop down another 50,000 yen for notorious "surcharges" on top of the rates I was looking at, they would still be very good deals. Since there will be four of us coming, your tip is much, MUCH appreciated.